By Ron Thaniel
July 15, 2002

The House of Representatives July 10 overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow airline trained and qualified pilots to carry firearms in their cockpits. The Bush Administration opposed the bill, which was approved by a 310 to 113 vote.

A similar bill has stalled in the Senate, but supporters said yesterday that they hoped to build on the unexpected strong support for the House Bill. Supporters of the Senate bill said they do not know whether they have the votes to pass it. Senator Ernest F. Hollings (SC), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee strongly opposes arming pilots and has refused to hold a hearing on the bill.

The legislation (H.R. 4635) was introduced by U.S. Rep. Don Young (AL), the Chairman of the Transportation Committee, and U.S. Rep. John Mica (FL), the Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee - the two sponsors of the House-passed aviation security legislation last year.

A bipartisan amendment offered by U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (OR), John Thune (SD), George Nethercutt (R-WA) and Joe Barton (TX) significantly increased the number of pilots that will allowed to volunteer for screening and training for the program. The DeFazio amendment will allow all commercial airline pilots - about 70,000 - that want to undergo background checks, screening and training to be eligible under the legislation.

The original legislation that was brought to the House floor would have established a two-year test program that would allowed up to two percent of the pilots - about 1,400 - to participate in the program.